Woman reunited with engagement ring after 17 years in 45 truckloads of trash

Nerida Lamphee's diamond engagement ring was lost for 17 years, buried beneath 45 truckloads of rubbish.

But now Ms Lamphee, 67, has been reunited with her lost treasure, thanks to a court-enforced council clean-up at the home of a renowned hoarder.

Ms Lamphee was just 19 when her beau proposed with the ring. But she was heartbroken years later when it, along with her purse, disappeared on a night out at a Surry Hills hotel in 1993.

In a recent two-week clean-out of the hoarder's home, after neighbours complained of stench and vermin, Sydney City Council specialist health surveyor Andrew McMillan found a dirty brown purse in which were Ms Lamphee's ring and her old driver's licence.

"It was like finding a needle in a haystack," Mr McMillan said.

Ms Lamphee wept with joy when she was reunited with her ring, saying: "I thought it was gone for good."